Man on death row takes bride to altar

Not even death could prevent one of the inmates on death row in Indonesia, Andrew Chan from expressing his love for his Indonesian girlfriend Febyanti Herewila, as he married her behind prison walls a few days to his execution.

Chan’s brother Michael revealed, that the Australian drug trafficker married his girlfriend on Monday in a ceremony at Nusakambangan Island, home to several high-security prisons where he is set to be executed soon.

Michael again called on the country’s president to show compassion to the newlyweds.

“We’ve had a special day today,” Michael Chan said as he announced the marriage after returning from a visit to Nusakambangan. “We’ve celebrated with some family and close friends.

“Hopefully the president will show some compassion, some mercy, so these two young people can carry on with their lives. It’s in the president’s hands.”

Chan met his wife several years ago when Herewila, a pastor, began helping inmates in the jail where the Australian was imprisoned.

Chan could be put to death by firing squad on Tuesday, along with seven other foreign drug convicts, after authorities at the weekend gave then formal notice of their executions.

Chan and fellow Australian Myuran Sukumaran, both among the group facing imminent execution, are ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” heroin-smuggling gang and were sentenced to death in 2006.

Australia has mounted a diplomatic campaign to save the pair but President Joko Widodo has vowed there will be no clemency for drug traffickers on death row in Indonesia. He says the country faces an emergency due to rising narcotics use.

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